


The Queen

by blackat_t7t



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Female-Centric, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:12:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3463967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackat_t7t/pseuds/blackat_t7t
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As she stands in her wedding dress above a hall as grand as any cathedral on Earth, Jupiter is not expecting to be rescued.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Queen

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the movie yesterday, and as I was watching the wedding scene I thought, "There's no way she doesn't know he plans to kill her." So this is my interpretation of what's going through Jupiter's head in the time leading up to the wedding.

Jupiter Jones isn’t a cynic, no matter how much she pretends to be one. She claims not to believe in astrology, but she’s willing to sell a piece of herself for a telescope. She believes in the bond between family, and she believes in love at first sight, even if she’s not sure she’ll ever find it for herself. She believes that most people are inherently good. She abhors suffering and does her best to avoid violence. (And yeah, she punched that kid in third grade when he tried to touch her Jewish self with a pork hotdog, but she didn’t _want_ to do it, okay? She had to.)

Jupiter Jones isn’t naïve either. Growing up a dirt-poor undocumented immigrant isn’t exactly conducive to a sheltered life. Jupiter’s been carrying a can of mace and a switchblade with her every day since middle school (“I don’t believe in violence,” she told her uncle when he gave her the knife as a thirteenth birthday present. “It is very real,” he told her, laughing at his own joke. Then, more seriously, “and so are the people who might hurt you.”). She’s had to use the mace twice, and although she doesn’t regret it she hates knowing that she caused other people pain. Even if they _were_ trying to hurt her. Now the mace and the knife are long gone, probably lost in the wreckage of the fertility clinic, and she’s never missed them so much.

Jupiter knows she’s in over her head. She’s known it since the whole mess started, and the more she learns the more overwhelmed she feels. She’s stepped onto a chess board that spans the galaxy, and she might have the title of Majesty but to the Abrasax she’s just a pawn. She can’t be sure of anyone’s motivations and she can’t trust anyone to look after her best interests, which Stinger’s betrayal only proves.

So when the bounty hunters neglect to take the data pads containing the Entitled Code when they lock her in her room, she takes full advantage of whatever meager protection it can give her. The bounty hunters might not hesitate to use force, but manipulation seems to be the Abrasax’ weapon of choice.  If it’s to be a battle of wits she may yet be able to come armed.

Her knowledge of the Code seems to surprise Titus, though it doesn’t keep him at a disadvantage for long. There’s no way to gracefully decline his invitation to dinner, and she can’t risk doing it ungracefully. After the meal, she agrees to let him show her something important. She doesn’t –can’t- trust him, but she’ll let him believe for now that she does. The more he talks, the more she learns, and knowledge may be her only weapon.

What she learns makes her feel sick. When she drops the canister of cells on the floor, it’s a miracle her dinner doesn’t end up there with it. The idea of Earth -all 6 billion people on it- being harvested like what Titus describes is enough that she’s desperate to do whatever she can to stop it. Maybe if she were in a calmer, more rational frame of mind, she would find a way to stall him until she could think things through properly. As it is, all she can think of is Earth and four other planets full of people that will be wiped out if she doesn’t do _something_.

Later, when she’s in her chambers preparing for the wedding –the wedding! If her mother could see her now!- she realizes just how bad a decision she’s made. If Titus Abarasax has been anything less than honest (and there’s every reason to believe he has), then she’s all but handed the Earth to him on a silver platter. Once they’re married, her life will be the only thing standing between him and legally harvesting the planet.

Jupiter thinks of her world. She thinks of all the people in all the beautiful places she’s never been able to travel to. She thinks of her friend Catherine, about to get married; of the friendly man at the kosher butcher shop whose wife just had a baby; of her family, all crammed into that tiny house just trying to get by. She thinks of her mother. Jupiter’s heart aches.

If she refuses to marry him, will he kill her, she wonders. There is no one around to stop him. He could probably pass it off as some kind of accident; blame it on her ignorance or clumsiness. And as much as that would truly suck for her, what’s more important is that she has no idea what would happen to the Earth if he did.  If the planet goes back to its previous owner, Balam Abrasax, it will be harvested and all its inhabitants will be just as dead as if Titus got control of it.

She’s between a rock and a hard place, then. Both options end with Jupiter, her family, and her entire planet annihilated. She’s not expecting a rescue: chances are Titus has already killed Caine, as he swore he would if Caine didn’t bring Jupiter to him. The thought makes her want to curl up on the floor and sob, but mourning is a luxury she does not have time for: the fate of the Earth rests in her hands.

And maybe, the fate of four other planets as well.

The thought strikes her like a bolt of lightning, so sudden and so agonizing she almost falls to her knees. Titus said that he wanted to marry her to assure the safety of the four planets he controls. It was to protect those billions of lives that she agreed to it, without giving thought to her own life. But this is all a lie: he intends to marry her and then kill her in order to gain control of the Earth. Is it possible that, to protect the four planets he holds, she could do the same to him?

The thought is horrific, and for a moment as she looks down at her hands Jupiter imagines them covered in blood. What kind of person is she, to think of doing something like that? Killing someone in cold blood?

But the alternative is far worse. The destruction of not only Earth but four other planets, billions upon billions of lives snuffed out. And she could stop it by ending one life, that of a man who had every intention of ending all the others. It will be a torturous burden to bear that weight on her soul, but isn’t it better for her to suffer it than to let all those people die?

Jupiter steels herself. She looks down at her hands once more and decides that yes, if it means saving those lives, these can be a murderer’s hands. Just so long as she survives long enough to become one.

Is knowing someone intends to kill you enough to help you stop them from doing it? Not forever, Jupiter thinks, but maybe for a little while. Maybe long enough to find a way to kill Titus and make it look like an accident. She’s read enough of the Entitled Codes to know she wouldn’t be put to death for murder, but she would lose the rights to all of her planets. She won’t do it that way. If Jupiter is going to become a murderer, it will be to save more lives than just her own.

As she stands in her wedding dress above a hall as grand as any cathedral on Earth, Jupiter is not expecting to be rescued. The fate of five planets rests with her, and her alone. She is about to marry a man who wants her dead so he can take her fortune, and she intends to turn his plan against him. It is a very dangerous game she’s playing.  Jupiter knows this, but in this moment she feels more in control than she has since her cousin first brought up selling her eggs. She is playing a dangerous game, yes, but it is the same game Titus and his family have been playing with her all along. Soon they will find that Jupiter is no longer their pawn- she is a queen.


End file.
